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Old 7 Mar 2006, 15:23 (Ref:1539615)   #1
chunterer
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Marco Apicella

Arguably the best talent to come out of Italy during the 80's and early 90's, he looked a shoe in for a glittering F1 career.

To my mind there are possibly four stand out drivers from the 80's and 90's who never got to make it in F1.

Apicella, Mike Thackwell, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.

During a classic season of Italian F3 in 1986 armed with a Euroventurini Dallara he was up against Nicola Larini and Stefano Modena as well as several others and then progressed to F3000 with the unwieldly 3087 chassis.

Marco then spent several years in the category with the likes of First Racing and Paul Stewart Racing usually at the front but with horrendous 'luck' before heading for Japan for a while.

Jordan entered him in a solitary F1 race - Monza 1993 where he was taken out at the first corner. EJ was quoted as saying something like 'Apicella's talent and understanding of the car was better than the rest of the drivers they'd had for the whole season put together' Praise indeed.

I'd like us to discuss what on earth happened to his career and any personal highlight moments?

Last edited by chunterer; 7 Mar 2006 at 17:15.
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Old 7 Mar 2006, 15:48 (Ref:1539636)   #2
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Mmm... sorry chunt I never really rated him as a star. Didn't he have a bit of a 'silver spoon', JYS went mad at him as I remember when he was in a poor Lola in 1991. I tended to lose interest though from about 1988 onwards, so maybe I'm doing him a dis-service?
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Old 7 Mar 2006, 17:39 (Ref:1539702)   #3
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Yes, I suspect he must have a reasonable degree of backing to maintain his presence in the category for those years. He certainly wasn't in the same moneybags league as say the Deletraz's or maybe even Giovanardi's of this world though.

In 1988, with the up and down March 88B, he was on par with the more experienced 'Piero' Martini at FIRST Racing then in '89 & '90 with the same outfit, he was one of the main contenders. At Birmingham '89 he mercilessly hounded Alesi to the flag and then absolutely waltzed away with the '90 race only to conk out.

In '91 the Lola T91/50 was generally poor (it was a development of the '90 chassis ultra successful on cross plies, but it wouldn't work properly on radial tyres apparently).

The PSR driver had it tough up against the superior Reynard 91D's pedalled by Fittipaldi, Zanardi, Naspetti and also arguably, on occasion, the 3001 Ralt's of Montermini and Gounon - quick drivers all.

Marco still ended up quite conclusively top Lola runner with some performances at some circuits that put the other Lola runners in the shade. These drivers included McNish (who had a 'mare') and Aiello with DAMS, Frentzen at Vortex and Hill and Sospiri with Middlebridge.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sir JYS got frustrated because he knew Marco's potential who was probably tearing his hair out having fancied his chances for the title but couldn't get that car any further than it was going. But he still managed to set it up to work better than those similarly mounted i've mentioned above.

Indeed, that last FIA season was probably his best and felt that it was time to move on. In Marco's own mind he must have been asking himself 'what do I have to do to win this thing!'

If he'd have had the Reynard I'll venture he'd have won it and then who knows?
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Old 7 Mar 2006, 20:59 (Ref:1539795)   #4
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Andy Wallace IMO was better than any of the ones mentioned.
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Old 7 Mar 2006, 22:47 (Ref:1539862)   #5
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How about Jorg Muller? Beat more fancied and better financed competition to '96 F3000 title, but never given a shot at F1. Marc Hynes is another who should have gone further; he beat Burti and Button in F3 fair and square, but who got the F1 breaks? (Hynes' career pretty much ended there and then due to lack of budget).

As for Apicella, he probably did enough to earn a spell in F1 but I don't see him in the same league as Thackwell. Incidentally, he does at least have a place in the record books - the shortest (race) career in World Championship history. 100 yards or so, wasn't it!
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Old 7 Mar 2006, 23:26 (Ref:1539902)   #6
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I remember Apicella as being very special on his day, and very ordinary on most of the others. Given the right motivation he could sparkle, but there was no consistency and I doubt a championship challenge was in him. I remember him well at Birmingham, having practiced a very tight line into the Ferodo hairpin in the warm up, he used it to great effect in the first couple of laps to move to the front. IIRC a piece of someone's wing support went through his radiator and the car got steadily more smoky as the race went on, before going bang and allowing van der Poele through to win, which was a shame as I'd picked him to win, but failed to put a tenner on at 33-1.
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Old 8 Mar 2006, 05:14 (Ref:1540016)   #7
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mountainstar should be qualifying in the top 5 on the gridmountainstar should be qualifying in the top 5 on the gridmountainstar should be qualifying in the top 5 on the grid
He went on to have a nice career in Japan so that can't be all that bad.

http://www.marcoapicella.com/
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Old 8 Mar 2006, 10:31 (Ref:1540168)   #8
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Originally Posted by ensign14
Andy Wallace IMO was better than any of the ones mentioned.
Couldn't agree more Ens, THE lost talent of the 80s I reckon. As for Marco, there was always an excuse IIRC, one year the Dallara, the next the 88B, the next Judd engines, the next can't remember now, the final one the T91/50.

But if you were being cruel you could say he had 5 years in good teams, and never won a single F3000 race. Bailey did, Danielsson did, Gounon did, Foitek, Grouillard did, none of them were ever touted as real stars. Herbert & Donnelly won on their first ever F3000 races, or pretty much.
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Old 8 Mar 2006, 11:38 (Ref:1540224)   #9
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Some sound commetns folks.

I agree that 'Wal' was certainly a fine pedaller, particularly impressive later on in '87 when he got his hands on a T87/50!

I don't buy it that he was better than Thackwell though - not as inspirational.

Apicella didn't need excuses for lack of results all you have to do is separate him from a lot of the eqip,ent he had! The Dallara was simply overweight and poor doesn't properly describe it yet he somehow managed to get a point at Spa with it - he must've frightened himself silly. The '88 March was not a patch on the Reynard or even the Lola.

In '89/90 The competition was higher imo so not winning a race against the crack DAMS and EJR squads can't really be knocked. I think you'll find that messrs Donnelly and Alesi, amongst others certainly saw him as a title threat indeed in '89 he was in the hunt until the last round even not having won a round?!. Woolley's observation of his cornering practic at B'rum in 1990 gives us another indication of high ability and analysis of a situation.

In '91 the Lola was bloody awkward thing yet he outscored the other fancied guys who had the same chassis including a future WDC and his then teammate who was supposed to be super quick, a soon to be F1 race winner, a touted WDC who should've gone onto win F1 races and his teammate who also was hot property at the time. (i'll leave you all to decide whom i'm referring to!) None of em won with it either.

Accepted, Aiello was the only bloke who snatched a pole with the thing, at Spa of all places (i'll argue that he removed the section of his brain with the fear bit in it?) but there were 2 rounds in a row (possibly Mugelo and Enna) where Apicella was the only guy in a Lola who got anywhere near the easier to drive Reynards in stunning drives and again at Brands he did very well

I think that if there were any dips in form it was more to do with him wondering where it had all gone wrong later on, as mostly he was a consistent and fast competitior. Certainly he was an artist behind the wheel. (I'd like to see him come back in GT's or something - those cars would probably suit him down to the ground.)

For Jordan to say what he did in '93 compared to rest of his drivers that year surely suggests that Apicella was a great driver?!

BTW, off topic but Danielsson was certainly rated as hot property back in F3 and if his eyesight hadn't interrupted momentum i'm sure he would have made more of an impact in 3000 (other than the one drive i rate as a demolition job on the rest of the field at Silverstone in 1989) and made it to the top. Back then he had a noticeable smooth but progressive style.

Am I banging a drum too much? possibly but I think the evidence i've put forward illustrates why I think Marco could've and should've been an F1 star.
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Old 8 Mar 2006, 16:27 (Ref:1540525)   #10
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whatever happened to danielsson?
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Old 8 Mar 2006, 17:10 (Ref:1540562)   #11
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Dunno exactly but he was to the fore in this thread if you wanna have pick though?:

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78366

Had look at Marco's website and couple of things I didn't realise/remember.

He must have been desparate to continue single seater career having come back from Japan to do the Euro 3000?!

He must have been chuffed to bits to finally clinch a world class title in 1994 though after so many years of missing the boat.

I also hadn't realised he'd done so well in Japan GT's which is a tough series.

I'd like to see him have a crack at FIA GT's his experience would stand him in good stead.
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Old 12 Mar 2006, 07:07 (Ref:1544170)   #12
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marcus has a real shot at the podium!marcus has a real shot at the podium!marcus has a real shot at the podium!marcus has a real shot at the podium!
missed the lot of tis thread but I aolways waited and waited for Marco to make it to F1 but it never really happened.



Love the thread guys and we should do more on guys that didnt quite make it such as , Goivanardi , Chiesa , Andrew Gilbert Scott , phil andrews , and many others to re-kindle the late 80's and early 90's when F3000 was simply superb
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Old 14 Mar 2006, 13:46 (Ref:1548006)   #13
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He did really well in F3000 and he had a lot of bad luck at the 1989 and 1990 races at the Birmingham Superprix.

He was involved in a fabulous scrap with Jean Alesi with the latter taking the chequered flag and also as Woolley pointed out, he was going for it in the 1990 race at the BSP till a holed radiator blew his chances of a win (excuse the pun)
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